Business Intelligence in a Corporate Environment Essay Example for Free

short letter discussion in a Corporate environment EssayThe purpose of this literature review is to try an overall perspective to the prepareings of melodic phrase intuition in a in somaticd environment. With the on localise of ample technological gains in the past decade the implementation of melodic line scholarship has grown accordingly. In the workplace the invite for transmission line dish improvement, responsive newspaper publishering, stabbing edge forecasting, and intra assemblage furrow sector use of goods and serviceser relations has triggered a consume for a whole that understands the occupancy demand as well as the tinct on caller technology. This review impart focus on the motley atomic number 18as that business give-and-take operation impacts in the workplace. There ordain also be an accent mark on understanding the longevity of these types of building blocks. With these units in the workplace disbeliefs c erstwhilerning sectional automation goals and the impact on the maturity stages that be involved with the domain of business intelligence units. Finally, with the growth of entropy collection and ease of use, the security and focal point of company information is intertwined with the operation of business intelligence.The Age of InformationThe Role of Shifting engine roomThroughout history technology has influenced the very fabric of business operations. The map of business intelligence in this channelise is the implementation and continuous improvement of that technology. This role is ever changing because technology continues to improve. While to some the role of business intelligence seems new and upcoming the usage and practice goes back to the earliest geezerhood of diligence. An example of this history would be in the automation industry. In years past large amounts of labor was done by hand. The role of the business analyst would be to collect and analyze the entire business abut from bu lge to finish. Once this was done the analyst would narrow their focus to the individual in an start out to render management with information to increase speed and efficiency. That role is now applyto analyze the formations and machines that atomic number 18 responsible for devising the products.While the example to a higher place is open the connection between the shift in technology and the role of business intelligence is clear. With any business the desire for information is strong. To be emulous a company unavoidably to be awargon of the business environment in which they see. Business intelligence serves to meet the information and improvement goals that drive the company to greater success.For this literature review on that point is an member written by Elliot pouf that exemplifies the shift of technology and the role of business intelligence on it. King focuses on the large amount of company resources that atomic number 18 spent on the implementation, develo pment, and management of business intelligence technology in the workplace. This attention has been driven by the increasing demand for such softwargon products and personnel to manage them. Understanding this on- termination shift King focuses on the role business intelligence has and ordain continue to get down on the business that use data en mass.The article provides a brief ascertain at the history of data computer storage and misconceptions about employee interest in accessing the data. This interest has largely been pushed down due to the complex nature of interacting with the information present at heart the data w behouse. With the explosion of the network and user assimilation to it these technical restraints argon slowing beginning to fall (King, 1998).With the ease of use and understanding increasing employees atomic number 18 beginning to dig up the regard as of data. This is where the role of business intelligence has thrived. Business intelligence has bee n implemented to bridge the gap between the employee and the business data stored in the warehouse. This is done through a variety methods that stomach do data much and more than useful to the companies that have and utilize their data.King summarizes his article with the theory that as the internet was unfastenedfar and wide to all this should concept should be utilise to the data warehousing. While King understands that the two pieces of technology are different he affirms that they are similar enough in nature that the same approach idler be applied. Overall, the article provide a good look at how the shift of technology in business raise actuate the demand for constitutions and the personnel that maintain and operate them (King, 1998). The impact of Business growthWith the growth of business the field has begun to shrink. No longer are companies that employ a carbon or even a thousand con lieured to be impressive. In 2014 Bank of America was account to have employed two hundred and eighty four thousand people to run its operations around the globe (Bank of America, 2014). The implications of companies of this size are astonish and have signifi rafttly impacted the demand for business intelligence.To truly understand why a company would spend millions of dollars on business intelligence operations a simple example fecal matter be provided. For Bank of America each(prenominal) employee is assigned a unmatched number or code that distinguishes him or her from the rest of the employees within the organization. On the other side of the table each customer that has interacted with the bank is also assigned a unique identifier. If these are added together the quantity of unique entities starts to become astounding.The example above shows why a business like Bank of America would be heavily interested in utilizing business intelligence assets to manage the data associated with its business units. While the example provided only touches on areas c oncerning employees and customers the amount of data associated with those people give the axe be look boggling. For employees this data could be anything from human resource forms to vacation day requests. For customers the data could be products purchased, recorded marketing calls, website interaction as well as a host of other areas.In 2000 Deborah Rowe an article that centered on business trends pushing database management systems to greater growth. Rowe focuses on the datawarehousing concept that has proven to meet a large majority of business needs in terms of information management. The focus of the article is to explain how progress is pushing for get around and better systems for managing data. The article duologue about how increasing competition has created a lean environment for data management. Companies that are complacent with their data are any failing or catching on to the need for better interaction and usage of their data. Rowe delves into the process of choo sing these systems from a corporate perspective.The challenges presented by this type of implementation are rather glaring. These challenges include upfront constitute, long term cost, and mismanagement of data. If a company chooses to implement a product that its employees dont understand competencyily the effects can be devastating on the business. Hiring knowledgeable employees to manage and implement the product is essential to long term success. With all of these hurdles of implementing a DBMS system the task can be daunting.Rowe discusses how the task of purchasing and im visualiseting a DBMS needs to be done with great trouble and a clear focus. If a business isnt able to look further down the road and consider how the DBMS can be used in the upcoming it will fail completely. Having a perspective that encompasses as very some(prenominal) of the companies goals and visions is captious. This is why companies are constantly looking for individuals that are able to focus on a circumstantial system just now be able to at the same metre look at the broader scope of the companys needs (Rowe , 2000).In summation the article leaves the reader with an interesting perspective on the increasing demand for these systems. Rowe concludes that the ERP industry will grow and tremendous pace in the future. With that growth the need for knowledgeable employees that understand the systems use and can translate the data to affect business needs will continuing to increase.The increasing corporate demand. At its very tenderness business is driven by two simple concepts. These are the laws of revenue enhancement and expenses. In business these two laws drive companies on a daily basis. Popular opinion about theseconcepts can sometimes sway in either direction. Proponents may put all of their support into revenue generation while others will focus on creating the perfect lean business model.Whatever the theory or opinion is the law of revenues and expenses will k eep on the same. As discussed in this review the expenses of implementing DBMS systems and employing highly skilled individuals can be massive. To a company that purely focuses on the expense side of the equivalence these systems may seem like a waste of precious assets. To others who understand the future and current impact of these systems the last to utilize them is an easy one.Like the concepts of revenues and expenses the goals of a company can dictate the perspective of business intelligence units. The lawsuit demand has begun to steadily increase over the past decade is the potential to affect both the expense and revenue side of the business structure. Business intelligence units are designed to support departments in ways that can amplify their current revenue production and decrease their expense habits.An article written by Ken Rudin explains how corporate demand for business intelligence in their companies is steadily increasing. Rudin talks about how business intelli gence has become a very high priority for business executives who understand the rates they can derive from business improvement. This demand has grown to the point where corporate leaders are focusing on moving past the traditional business intelligence processes (Rudin , 2007) .Rudin explains the implications of this progressive sentiment process by paralleling the impact of software applications that software products have had on industry to business intelligence services. The discussion is focused on how executives are looking into custom company specific solution provided on an instant. This type business process software is highly intuitive and seeks to provide all of the necessary tools needed to ask an informed business decision.Examples of these on-demand solutions are softwares likes SQL Server Reporting Services by Microsoft. This software allows for not only the display of information but the real time interaction with the data that the web services are pulling their content from. Rudin discusses how these types of solutions are not only catching fire they are exploding all over the business world. This explosion of demand is driven by the complexity of the data cosmos pulled as well as the cost associated with the data being collected and stored.This cost and complexity comparison is what Rudin believes is the get wind piece to business intelligence demand. Like the example of revenues and expenses the idea surrounding on-demand solutions is the same. The question asked is, What can these solutions do that allow a normal employee to do their job at a higher level which in turns into a higher rate of relapse for their employer?Concluding Rudins article he discusses that a key factor associated with on demand business intelligence solutions is the usability of the product. Having solutions created that users do not understand or lose trust in can be a major drain on process improvement. Rudin emphasizes that the development of these processes needs to be done in such a way that they take into account the users that are interacting with them. This is essential to developing a trust relationship between the users and the product (Rudin , 2007). Business Intelligence ToolsThe Role of ReportingReporting is one the some essential pieces of and type of business process. If a company sells laundry detergent it needs to know how much product it has, how much product it has sold, and how much it should produce. These tierce simple questions speak to the ramifications of good report carding data within a business.There is so much information that is gathered by companies with the singular intent of providing reports for business decisions. This gathering is done in a way that the information collected in stored in some type of serverwhich houses a virtual warehouse. Like a physical warehouse it is critical to understand how and where something is stored so that it can be retrieved for future use.When it comes to reporting the challenge presented to businesses is the quantity and placement of their data. If a business is unable to utilize their data efficiently they are sacrificing business opportunities every second the data is left idle. This quandary has been analyze and the solution has been to purchase and employee people and products to provide this data in a useful format for business use.In a business intelligence unit a data analyst will focus on first understanding the overall goal of a report request. This is significant because the impact of creating something purely establish on the request can lead to disastrous results. These can range from customers not understanding the terminology used within the reporting system to not grasping the capability or usage of the system being used to provide the report.To launch certain these requests are understand correctly a business intelligence unit is commonly found implemented within a specific area of the business. This cultivates a hybridise kno wledge between the highly technical nature of the reporting systems to the broad scope goals of a particular business department. This type of side by side interaction can be a major benefit to not only getting more precise and accurate reporting it also serves as educating tool to the department through exposure.An article written in 2005 by Harry Debes explains this process in detail. The author of the article begins the discussion by evince the importance of timely and accurate data. These two pieces are the bread and butter of business intelligence. The reason for this is that both factors are highly dependent on each other.Debes explains this concept by focusing on the energy market and the application of business reports in this area of industry. He shows that there various daily functions that are conducted that are in need ofconstant monitoring to allow for efficient operation. Some of the examples include repair requests, credit collections, meter usage, demand fluctuation s, and most all important(p) customers (Debes , 2005).All of the examples elevated by Debes are common sense in nature but they require an entire business process to effectively report on. exploitation the example of meter usage by having daily reports energy companies can identify issues based on real time data and not be forced to swallow a catastrophe because of something as simple as mechanical fault. The problem could easily be identified by a simple reporting tool that was programmed to expect a specific range of usage. If the range was violated the system would send an alert with a level of priority based on the disparity of the ranges.The article written by Debes is a good example of how business intelligence reporting can be implemented in ways that benefit the company at levels of the corporate ladder. From interactive financial data and forecasting to specific customer energy consumption and history true(p) and accurate reporting in the energy industry is a very power ful tool that has been used and is being continuously improved upon for future endeavors (Debes , 2005). encounter of data driven ForecastingForecasting is an important an element of any business. At its most basic level it is simply looking to the future and qualification guesses to a specific result based on past and present data. This is where the role of business intelligence arrives. Data analysts like their namesake are paid to look at data and decipher how that data works and relates to the business.Once a data analyst is able to firmly grasp company data they can provide constructive advice based on the knowledge of that data. In addition to providing advice the data analyst can create reports that take past data and make estimations programmatically based on definable trends. These reports can be provided through an assortment of softwares and displayed in formats that best fit the target audience.Having a system in place that looks to past data and provides usefulforecas ts can not only give a company an idea of where they are going they can also give an idea where their competition is going as well. This ability to compare company performance to the market and project where the company is headed is critical. With timely and safe forecasting a company can discern opportunities and threats within the marketplace before they even travel by.With market competition becoming more and more keen the role of forecasting has been prioritized highly by most companies that operate on a large scale. This is clearly supported by an article written by Susana Schwartz about the greater need for more robust forecasting technologies. The concept of the article focuses on the next level of forecasting that business intelligence units are seeking to achieve.The author talks about how the next set of tools utilized by business intelligence units will be structured into the business processes that have already been laid down. The key factors that are emphasized are the broad categories that these tools can influence. Examples of these are products such as SSRS by Microsoft, ARGOS by Ellucian, and APEX by Oracle.Each of these tools provide granular interaction with business process data while still being able to be applied to other categories. These tools are used to be the developing platforms that take the business process driven data and formulates it into reportable information used for forecasting. In the article these are the types of tools that Schwartz describes when talk of the town about integrated and real time driven tools (Schwartz, 2007).Concluding the article by Schwartz she emphasizes the value of report generation. She talks about how even if the emphasis might be redundant the need to focus on this factor is critical to accurate forecasting. This is because all of the past data collected is contained within the reports. Schwartzs realizes that for business units to understand any of the forecast data they need to be familiar with the data that has been collected and displayed within the provided reports (Schwartz , 2007). Data analytic thinking and ImprovementThe core of what business intelligence does is data analysis and improvement. Both of these factors contribute to each other in a never ending spiral of push and pull. When data is analyzed it is used to improve a process which in turn is analyzed. With this concept firmly in place understanding the role of business intelligence becomes clearer.As the facilitator of analysis and improvement business intelligence units are responsible for the flow between the two actions. When a department senses a need for analysis or improvement the business intelligence unit is used to facilitate that action. This responsibility to facilitate these actions is what drives the demand by corporate leadership. As expressed earlier in this review having units that are constantly looking at moving the expense line down and the revenue line up is very beneficial a corp orate entity.An article that was created in response to a seminar on business data analysis describes how this process is essential to the strategy development and future readying of companys based on data analysis. The article provide insight into a couple areas within the sphere of data analysis. One of these is make the foundations and structure of the assimilation within the company to respect the data and make decisions off of it (Computer software .., 2012).This whole concept of creating a decision based culture is driven by the need for action in the market. If a company fails to take action on its corporate strategy it will fall back tooth its competition fairly quickly. The article discusses how through data analysis an attitude of decision making individuals can be created to promote action.The key of this data driven culture is the analysis that goes into making the data credible. Without credible data the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively is crippled. If employees cant trust the data they are working with they will begin to question the entire infrastructure based on a single data set. In addition to data analysis the article talks aboutimproving recruitment through data analysis tools. Being able to create a clear picture of who a person is before the expense of bringing them in for an interview can be a great time and money saver. This is done through congenital and external data analysis (Computer software .., 2012) .Once research is done on an individual the business intelligence units can categorize potential recruits and provide reports based on recruiters specifications. If an office manager needs someone with terce years of experience and a knowledge of a specific software system a tool can be created to provide that data in real time to the inquiring party.When it comes to data analysis and improvement making sure that they are used in conjunction is essential for seamless implementation and continued success. An exam ple of poor usage is providing a complicated and detailed report within a system that cant handle the data correctly. Even though the data itself is good the system used for improvement is poor. This can create animosity towards certain products and mistrust in data (Computer software .., 2012). Data managementThe term data management is something that has been thrown around industry the past few years. When this happens the real meaning of the terminology begins to take on a life of its own based on the perception of those trying to gripe its true meaning. A clear way to explain what the definition of data management is to show the similarities between an industries accepted practice. Like employee management data management requires a certain style to correctly guide the direction of the data. In a department setting a manager may spend time developing a plan that their employees will play specific roles in. The same is true with data management. Depending on the setting and usag e data is set deflexion in specific formats to meet highly granular needs. A good example is list of information that is associated with a companys employees. The data will stay the same but it requires a level of management to break into specific formats to meet different needs. The human recourse department might need the list as a reference sheet to pull information about quickly and efficiently. That same information could also be used by the employee development department to conduct surveys andgauge employee satisfaction.These examples are very simply but they do provide a good idea of how managing data in a succinct and efficient way can broaden its usage and usability immensely. There is an article written in the Journal of Digital Asset charge that describes the role of business intelligence on data management. This article provide a brief look into how the emergence of big data has pushed an emphasis on utilizing business intelligence units to provide levels of data manag ement. The article talks about how business intelligence is beginning to play critical role in the storage, maintenance, and usability of the data. These three factors are critical in guaranteeing the reliability of information collected and scrubbed for company use. The first of these factors briefly mentioned is the storage factor. Arguably the most important of the three storage is the bucket where all unstructured and structured data is stored (Jordan Ellen , 2009) . Within the context of the article the authors describe how storage is the first step that business intelligence units have to consider when managing data. The tasks associated with this piece range from creating feeds to port information from various databases to creating tables and views within specific schemas.Within these tasks the question that is constantly asked is the question of available space. This question permeates each of the three factors but is most prevalent at the initial of data management. The se cond piece is the maintenance portion. This factor is most prevalent once data has been stored and refined into a usable manner. The article shows how this responsibility is what keeps business intelligence units in a critical role to companies data management needs. The tasks that occur with data maintenance can range from eliminating old data, archiving, inputting new systems, and creating methods to encourage more efficient data retrieval and reporting. The final factor addressed in the article is the factor of usability. This concept is what non-IT personnel will focus most of their attention on when looking at data resources. Business intelligence plays critical role in getting the data into an understandable and usable format at the customer level. This is the defining piece of business intelligence focus. Employers look specifically for individuals who are able to translate the technical data from a database perspective and be able to make that information as clear as practi cal for non-information technology users (Jordan Ellen , 2009). Internal dialoguesWhen considering things that business intelligence employees should do well is internal communications. In some(prenominal) companies business intelligence units will be the embassador between the data and the customer. These individuals are responsible for understating the customers needs from an IT perspective. Once the needs have been determined the customer needs to be made aware of how reason out or far away from their original needs are to the ones seen by the business intelligence personnel. Being able to discern what a customer needs is extremely important. The emphasis placed on cultivating effective communications between all parties is absolutely critical to getting the information needed to create or improve business processes. There are so many adverse situations that occur within corporate setting that could have been avoided by simply establishing transmit of communications with in volved parties. A good way to do this is to provide updates on the progress of the project. This can done by collaboration software, email, phone calls, and incline to face interaction.By establishing a working and efficient internal communication structure customers are more at ease with the progress and process being developed. This is essentially a status gauge that shows that all parties are involved and have a say in what is happening. An article released by press outfit gives a good example of how companies are understanding the importance of internal communications and the role of business intelligence in it. Based on the trends within industry the article shows how the shift of technology has affected the way internal communications are done between IT and the various corporate departments. What has occurred in novel years is the need for new strategy development with business intelligence as key factors in these strategies (Business intelligence..,2001). From a corporate standpoint these new strategies have ushered in a different perspective of IT individuals in the workplace. No longer are individuals that work with databases left out of conference calls and clashings that determine company direction.The article clearly explains that the need for individuals with technical and corporate goal understanding need to have an opinion in new processes and strategies. These individuals are becoming more and more important because of their perspective on how technology is being used in the marketplace. The final portion of the article by press wire addresses an important decision the varietying companies have to make. The authors emphasize that decisions makers need to reshape their perspective of units like business intelligence and truly value the opinions that are being shared. If this perception of the average IT worker from the 1970s continues to permeate a companys upper level management the likelihood of less opportunities and more threats to occ ur is much more apt(predicate) than competitors who are understand the shift (Business intelligence..,2001). Business Intelligence OutlookFrom a sustainable field outlook the question has been raised is whether business intelligence as a field is here to stay. In any profession this question has been and will be asked as the world changes. No profession is one hundred percent guaranteed that the field will continue to be useful to the society in which operates. This simple truth puts into perspective the fragility of any profession.In regards to business intelligence determining whether the field is going to progress for years to come is difficult. Currently, the demand for business intelligence employees and or software is currently high. With many excrete competitors in various industries searching for ways to cut cost and improve efficiency the current market outlook is good.On the flip side of this equation the risk for business intelligence to improve itself out of a job is a definite possibility. With new softwares being created the technical barrier created by big data is beginning to slowly fall. The threat to the field is that companies will purchase a customer based software that provides cookie tender reports that can be used by non-IT users to make business decisions.An article by the journal of Journal of International Technology and Information Management touches on this topic and describes how measuring the effectiveness of business intelligence on a company can determine its future market outlook. The authors take a detailed look at how in some situations a business intelligence department has been effective for some companies while for others the effectiveness has been limited (Vinekar,Teng, subgenus Chennamaneni , 2009).The important factors that the authors cite for effectiveness center on corporate understanding of the role of business intelligence, implementation, defined goals, and comprehend value opinion. Each of these factors are c ited because of they are all touched(p) at the inception of the business intelligence unit within the company. Without these factors being addressed correctly the ability for a business intelligence unit to operate effectively is severely hampered.The first of these factor is the identity of the department. moreover like meeting a person for the first time the impression created on the meeting is what defines the perception of the relationship. The article talks about how it is the responsibility of those implementing the unit to clearly lay out the benefit that the department will bring to the company as a whole. These individuals include directors and manager.This push stage is the first step in gauging whether business intelligence will be effective within a company. If corporate leaders understand the benefit of the unit and put their support behind it the initial reaction is more likely to be positive than negative. The caution that is applied to this shape is that if there isnt top down approval the unit will not succeed. The authors strongly emphasize the need for an executive push at the inception of the business intelligence unit (Vinekar,Teng, Chennamaneni , 2009).The second factor discussed by the authors is the implementation shape of a business intelligence unit. This is the first step to making a concerted effort for a business intelligence impact on a company. The authors talk about how this contour needs to be handled in a way that allows for immediate impact. The rational for this approach is that if the business intelligence unit can prove its value at inception the perceived value of the unit will be cemented in its early success.With this approach the authors also caution at the risks involved. If the unit is not prepared the likelihood of error is high. Just like theperceived value of the unit based on a positive rollout the same can occur for a negative one. The authors are inflexible in their idea that to make a good impact the un it needs to be prepared and aware of the tentative situation in which the unit is placed on the onset.The third factor is defined goals. The unit needs be able to clearly express their goals for improving the companys internal and external business processes. The article describes how the focus of the department needs to be grounded in the goals and direction set at the onset. This allows for an immediate understanding of what the unit hopes to achieve. The authors caution that without clear goals for the department the unit will not be able to work succinctly.The final and most important factor discussed in the article is the perceived value opinion of the business intelligence unit from the rest of the company. This perceived value is critical for unit to be able to provide opinions and trusted data. The reason cited by the authors why this value opinion is most important is because the opinion can be had by every employee within the company. The simple truth is that with more eye s watching the unit there is a higher level of critique applied to the actions done by the business intelligence unit (Vinekar,Teng, Chennamaneni , 2009). departmental Goal ImpactIn most businesses the unit structure is broken out into various departments that meet company specific needs. Examples of these include accounting, budgeting, marketing, human resources, RD, and many more. These departments all do things that are subject specific but require a certain level of overlap with the rest of the company. For example the budgeting and accounting departments are joined at various stages of the financials that the company uses.Having an understanding of these departments is very important from the perspective of the business intelligence unit. The reason business intelligence units need to grasp the subject impact as well as overall impact of departments is because the processes built usually touch more thanone specific department. What this means is that a data analyst needs to be able to determine what is best for not just one department but for all parties involved.With a large perspective of the company the business intelligence units are able to impact broad groupings of departments. This in itself is a big benefit to the company as a whole. The reason for this is because the improved processes help promote better interaction between departments. This is like connecting various standalone silos to each other with an agreed on process.An article that addresses this departmental impact comes straight from the Business Intelligence Journal. The whole premise of the article is the authors argue that by assimilating business intelligence units into departments these units can change the departments core business practices. This can be done by embedding individuals from the business intelligence department into other departments through the company (Elbashir Williams , 2007).The authors lay out a plan for making sure the company gets the best benefit when th e embed business intelligence personnel in a different department. The authors talk about how it is important to make sure an understanding of the units function is clearly laid down before the unit is implemented. The importance of this is that the departments understand the business intelligence units are not directly under the units they are embedded in.The article makes it clear that to make the relationship work between the BI unit and the department the BI unit cannot be under the department they are servicing. The rational for this is that if the BI unit is under their own department they will be less inclined to prefer a department when building a business process for multiple departments. This is important because it allows the business intelligence employees to say no to things that might be pass on out of ignorance or selfishness.The second step for success when embedding a BI unit is to establish therelationship. The authors describe how important it is to set up the w ay communication is supposed to occur. In most situations it is important to have the directors of the department as the individuals responsible for setting up the proper channels. The benefit of this is that it forces employees to acknowledge the support of the departments directors. This means the BI unit will be able to get the information they need from department employees to formulate effective business process improvements (Elbashir Williams , 2007).The final piece that the article discusses is how much leeway the BI unit has to make departmental decisions. In some cases the BI unit make most improvement decisions based on technology understanding and departmental trust. In others the unit has little leeway and requires approvals from the department to enact improvements. Whichever way the process is set up it is important to have that clearly explained and understood by all parties involved to avoid confusion (Elbashir Williams , 2007). Tiers of maturity. In the business i ntelligence community there are various levels of maturity associated based on the length of time the unit has been in service to the company. Each of these levels are determined based on the progress the unit has made. These level begin at inception and end at forecasting. It is important to recognize these levels to determine the progress the department is making in the company that it is being utilized in.These levels are broken out into three specific categories. These are the inception phase, the break even stage, and the forecasting stage. Each of these stages is unique and presents its own set of challenges to the business intelligence unit. The most critical phase is the inception phase. Since this phase is what spawns the impact that the BI unit makes it is critical that it goes well.During the inception phase of the unit the challenges presented center on assimilation to the company. The unit must be able to find their place within the work environment if they are going to effective in the company. By analyzing company needs prior to actually meeting and planning with departments the unit can have a head start on how to make an immediateimpact on their departmental customers.The second tier is thoroughly described in an article by a group of authors writing for Information Technology and Management. This group of authors describes how the second phase of maturity is centered on getting to a point of break even. This term refers to the business intelligence unit being able to complete/automate enough critical tasks that they are able to look begin forecasting (Zeng Duan, 2012).During this second phase the authors stress the importance of consistency and performance. These two ideas are what the authors believe drive the unit towards a proactive mindset and away from a reactive mindset. This transition of thought processes is what make this phase important. Once a unit can break though to a state of mind that is forward looking they can begin to devel op ideas that will prevent problems before they happen and predict future opportunities before they occur (Zeng Duan, 2012).The final phase is briefly addressed in the article and deals with the forecasting and future opportunities phase. This is tier of maturity that each business intelligence unit strives to get to at some point in its existence. With this phase the unit is able to think more creatively and follow leads and trails into data that could provide beneficial to the company (Zeng Duan, 2012).The conclusion makes a final point in regards to the level of maturity. The point made is that these levels once attained are not concrete. With the ever changing needs of the company as well as the creation of new technologies the department can easily waver between different tiers. The authors suggest that having a proactive approach is the best way to stay at the highest level of maturity for the longest periods of time (Zeng Duan, 2012). Marketplace perspectiveThe final point of this literature review centers on the industries perception of business intelligence as a whole. This perception is what drives the demand for business intelligence within the workforce. Ifindustry believe the benefit of a business intelligence department is greater than the cost then demand for these units will be high. If the value garnered is perceived as minimal then the field will falter. The real question that the marketplace has been postulation falls on longevity. There has been speculation the technology will eventually push this field out into the cold. This would be done by platforms that mimic the various functions and responsibilities that are currently being held by business intelligence employees. If this happens the need for large quantities of analysts would no longer be needed. An article written by Chen talks about the perspective of business intelligence by outside entities. He looks at how a business intelligence unit can provide a matched advantage to a c ompany based on the agility it generates.He argues that by having units that can provide data quickly the competitive advantage created is enough to sway popular opinion into the positive (Chen, 2012). Chen talks about the need for business intelligence units and his belief that the agility of these units will continue to drive demand. His entire argument is based on the units ability to adapt to new technology and processes quickly enough to afford decision makers consistent windows of opportunity. Chens belief is that no matter how advanced technology gets the need for individuals to understand and communicate it to decision makers will of all time be needed. Chen concludes by describing how business intelligence units need to maintain a high level of flexibility. He addresses the issue of complacency and warns that if laziness move into the department then shifting technology will engulf the department. The real value is the ability to quickly analyze and develop a well thought out process that improves the current one using the existing resources at their disposal (Chen, 2012).ConclusionBusiness intelligence at its very core is business process improvement. This can be done through many different ways but the concept never changes. An individual working in a business intelligence department always ask the question, How can I make this process better? This simple phrase is the core of what business intelligence is and what it will always be. There are many companies that understand the importance of business intelligence. These companies have realized how important it is to strive for a lean workenvironment. This is achieved by isolating areas of work that can be automated or improved through the efforts of business intelligence units. The impact that can be made by tasking a unit to think through a process from every perspective and redesign it to meet current needs can be a massive benefit.In conclusion, there are many areas in which business intelligen ce can be utilized to benefit a company. From data management to data security business intelligence departments are meeting the needs of companies as todays technology moves faster and faster into the future. It clay to be seen whether these units will become a staple of the workplace but their current impact has been instrumental to the information technology industry as a whole.ReferenceBank of america company statistics. (2014, March 3). Retrieved from http//www.statisticbrain.com/bank-of-america-company-statistics/ BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Internal communication excellence is critical to business success. (2001, Jun 29). 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